ResourcesBlogAllow us to Re-Introduce Ourselves: 280 Group is now Productside

Allow us to Re-Introduce Ourselves: 280 Group is now Productside

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We are thrilled to announce our new branding as Productside! 

This change is so much more for us than just an update on colors or look and feel. We are bringing our company’s mission, spirit, and goals front and center. If you’re curious about our journey from 280 Group to Productside- read on! 

Leaving the Highway Behind

Founded in 1998 as a product consultancy in Silicon Valley, 280 Group was named after a highway connecting Silicon Valley with San Francisco- referred to as the ‘spine of innovation’ by our employees. The name underscored our mission to bring Silicon Valley product management best practices to the world. However, as we expanded our global reach, the relevance of the name diminished. 

We wanted a name that was less about where we were from and more about what we do. What made us special as a company was our deep commitment to making each engagement a success. As a company, we celebrated every individual who got promoted after applying lessons learned from our courses, and every team that launched a successful product, after years of spinning out products or features with low adoption and success. 

Why Productside? 

The name Productside was created with the following rationale: “In the world of product management, you need someone who will be by your side, giving you guidance and clarity in a complex field. Productside is a group of professionals who provide tailored training and consulting that can transform companies. Productside helps you chart your course and equips you with the skills for you to navigate it.” 

Productside symbolizes our commitment to being by the side of product managers and leaders along their journey to product excellence. There are many reasons why product management may not be working at an organization. Over the years, we’ve found that product teams struggle with the same kinds of challenges: 

  • Unclear roles and responsibilities. 
  • Lack of a link between product and business strategy. 
  • Poor stakeholder alignment and engagement. 
  • Low market and customer understanding. 

Our product professionals have been in the trenches and know the challenges product teams face on a deeply personal level. For us, a failed product launch with low adoption represents more than just a negative mark on a balance sheet- it is about the people who spent their careers building something that was not wanted. We want to help leaders funnel their time and energy on career defining moments of successful product launches and iterations instead. At Productside, we are here in service of product leaders and are committed to be by their side along their journey to doing product better. 

We believe that with the right skills, process, and people, any team can unlock high performance and launch successful products that people want to buy and use. 

Hear more about this change from Productside CEO, Rina Alexin

Productside is green! We now have a new, distinct primary color palette of green, black, white, and gray. We see this as a key differentiator that sets us apart visually, in the PM space. We use simple, bold, and uncluttered design, that reflect the intelligent and innovative aspects of the brand. 

Our new logo was inspired by the product roadmaps, tools that are used by product managers to communicate how they will accomplish their objectives. These were formed into the shape of a “P” to further reinforce our name. 

We wanted our brand to convey we are experts in the Product Management space, while reflecting the personalities of our instructors, who are warm, knowledgeable, interesting, and approachable, and are our most important asset. 

Putting the Pro in Product 

With over 20 years as a consultancy and training provider, we have amassed inside knowledge of how thousands of product teams operate. We have iterated on our approach and content to solve for the most common and valuable problems for product teams. We follow the following steps to transform product teams: 

  • Know What’s Expected: Clarify roles and expectations in product management. 
  • Do What’s Expected: Train product managers in practical, playbook-based techniques that drive valuable business and customer outcomes. 
  • Excel as a Team: Coach product leaders to enforce accountability of their team to great product practices. 
  • Excel as an Organization: Cultivate a culture that values the importance of product management and an organization that reinforces a common mission of serving end users. 

Outcomes over Outputs 

Our clients also benefit from our ability to empathize with their needs and be flexible with our engagements to maximize their outcomes. 

As Corre Curtice, VP of Product Management reflects: “It was so personal. So often training is very cookie cutter. The person that’s doing the training, they’re obviously an expert in their field, but they don’t spend a lot of time getting to know you, getting to know your situation. And with [the Productside team], it’s completely different. [We immediately] talked about where our organization was, what I wanted to focus on, and how we could customize the training to really fit our purpose.” 

With our rebranding, we double down on what works for our clients. Our focus is not on skills training, it’s on client outcomes. We believe training is only as effective as the context people work in. We are dedicated to driving our practice forward by measuring outcomes and iterating on our approach. That is our commitment to embarking on a successful journey with our clients. 

We are Productside, your Partners in Product. 

Rina Principal Product Management Trainer & Productside Chief Executive Officer
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Principle Trainer & Chief Executive Officer
March 14, 2024